ANDHI MUL

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A potential diving spot and sacred pool with unspecified fish was said to lie below a Hindu temple dedicated to an unidentified goddess or god (DUCLUZAUX 1993c, 1993d: 21). ETYMOLOGY: The East Pahari (Gorkhali, Nepali) Andhi Mul (DUCLUZAUX 1993c, 1993d: 21) translates as -dark source [of water]- as -andhi- (noun) is the word for storm, strong wind but -andha- (adjective) means blind and -andheri- (adjective) dark, murky (note 1) whilst -mul- (noun) is a word for root, origin, source, spring [of water]. SITUATION: Above the orographically right (locally south) bank of the Marsyangi River and south of the Prithivi Highway (Kathmandu - Pokhara road) at a vaguely described location which was understood to lie in an unspecified spatial relation to the village of Bandipur (note 2) and at the foot of a 100 m thick limestone barrier (note 3) at elevations between 430 m and 810 m asl (DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 21; DUCLUZAUX et al. 2001: 1944). The sacred pool itself seems to lie at the head of a seasonlly active, generally northwards draining tributary stream (no name mentioned) which flows to the orographically right (southern) bank of the Marsyangi Khola and at a linear distance represented by 4 cm south-south-west on an unspecified scale (DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 19 croquis de situation …) from a populated place called Satrasaya Phant (note 4) but at an about 130 m or 150 m higher elevation (about 100 m vertically below –>Andhi Gufa, Bandipur). DESCRIPTION: A beautiful place where an about 10 m wide dammed pool, in which many (sacred?) fish explore the water, and is surrounded by unidentified species grand trees in the bossom of a small vale. A kind of temple has been erected on the shore and the pool discharged at an unidentified time on an unspecified day in March 1992 an estimated 20 litres or 40 litres per second (note 5).DUCLUZAUX (1993d: 19 Croquis de situation des cavites de la region de Dumre.- without scale) indicates the number 3 for Andhi Gupha a thumb's breadth south-west f 2 (Andhi Mul) and both ESE across a ridge from 4 and 5 for Jambowoti Gupha (Siddha Gufa, Bimalnagar) and SSW above the populated place called Satrasaya Phant on the Prithivi Marg (Kathmandu - Pokhara highway) -- confirmed by DUCLUZAUX (1993b) and repeated in LIPS (1993).